Maxwell Club To Name Award After Joe Paterno

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – The Maxwell Football Club will name an award after Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

The Joseph V. Paterno Award will go to a college football coach. Specific guidelines are still in the works, but a statement from Penn State athletics said criteria will include the impact the coach has had on his university, players, community and state.

Maxwell officials were to announce details of the award Friday before the club’s annual awards banquet in Atlantic City, N.J.

The 83-year-old Paterno is major college football’s winningest coach with 394 victories over 44 seasons. The Hall of Famer said Friday that he was deeply honored by the newly named award.

Penn State led all Top 25 teams in 2009 with an 89 percent federal graduation rate, according to NCAA data. The Paterno family is also well-known in Happy Valley for philanthropy, including giving more than $4 million to the university during the coach’s tenure to fund endowed faculty positions, scholarships and other academic and building projects.

Based in the Philadelphia area, the Maxwell Club presents 13 high school, college and pro football awards each year. The Maxwell Award for college football’s player of the year this season went to Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.

“The Maxwell Club has been a real asset for many years in promoting the game of football in greater Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania,’’ Paterno said.